Bernard Haldane and Associates

Several years ago, I responded to a newspaper ad by Bernard Haldane and Associates. My then-employer was going downhill, and they claimed that they could help. So they invited me to come in to discuss their services.

Right from the start, something sounded fishy. First, their sales agent made a very disparaging (and rather tactless) remark about my resume, saying that they would have to rework it. He said something to the effect that they would never let it see the light of day. That alone sounded suspicious. I knew that there was room for improvement in my resume, but I also knew that I was a good writer and that I had done plenty of reading on resume-writing techniques. His criticism seemed to be a bit over the top.

Second, he claimed to offer access to a secret job market… job openings that were not available anywhere else. This raised the obvious question of how they came by these job openings. Were there really hundreds of companies that advertised exclusively through Bernard Haldane and Associates? That seemed doubtful; after all, if a company wanted to fill a job opening, why would they only use one channel — a channel that charged job seekers a hefty fee?

That was the third big warning flag. The fee that they would have charged was outrageous — at least a couple of thousand dollars, if I recall correctly. Another big warning flag.

When I showed resistance, their agent said, “I guarantee that we can find you a job.” So I asked, “When you say that you guarantee this, do you mean that I’ll get my money back if I don’t land a job through your service?” He went silent.

I later learned that multiple lawsuits had been levelled against this company in various states. I’m so glad that I decided to pass on these guys.

Software engineering

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The vast majority of people with the title of “software engineer” are nothing of the sort. And the vast majority of companies that give employees this title have no concept of proper software design. In other words, I echo the sentiments expressed in this article here.

This title is a status symbol, pure and simple. It’s a sop. IT also indicates that many people become programmers without properly grasping their material.

I’ve known a lot of people with Computer Science degrees who cannot write decent code. A lot of them don’t understand principles of clean structured programming, and even fewer have a strong grasp of object-oriented programming. I wish I could sit them down and force them to read Stephen Meyer’s books. Ugh.

It’s very disappointing. People learn as much as they need to churn out code, but they don’t bother to refine their art. After all, as long as it works, that’s what matters, right? Not to me, it doesn’t. Not if you think that quality matters.

Customer service

Have you ever ordered a time-critical computer part via telephone or the Internet, only to find out that it was being delayed, and that you were never informed? I have.

That’s why this story may seem familiar to a lot of you. I especially like the following comment within the follow-up to that story:

If you are in the Customer Service business, and you think that it’s better to give the customer an incorrect date than express any doubt whatsoever, and yet claim that it’s too expensive to keep updated those customers to whom you have promised a ship date, then your company deserves to fail and you should seriously consider a new career.

Wrigley did what?

Little known fact: Wrigley used to sell baking soda rather than chewing gum. They got into the chewing gum business almost by accident, due to a brilliant marketing campaign of theirs. Thankfully, they were smart enough to take advantage of this opportunity.

You learn something new every day.

More on networking

Oops. Looks like I mistakenly attributed a previous article to Keith Ferrazzi, when the article was actually written by Tahl Raz. That’s what I get for skimming over parts of the thing — and skimming ineffectively. I did read enough to know that the article was well worth reading, though.

Here’s an excerpt that really made me go “Wow!”

This is the story Keith Ferrazzi tells about his father:

Pete Ferrazzi, a steelworker whose world was hard hours and low wages, knew he wanted more for his son. He knew his boy’s life would be better if he could find a way out of their working-class Pittsburgh suburb.

But the elder Ferrazzi didn’t know the exits. He’d never been to college. He knew nothing of country clubs or private schools. He could picture only one man who might have the sort of pull that could help: his boss. Actually, the boss of his boss’s boss — Alex McKenna, CEO of Kennametal, in whose factory Pete Ferrazzi worked. The two men had never met. But the elder Ferrazzi had an idea about how the world worked. He’d observed that audacity was often the only thing that separated two equally talented men and their job titles. Pete Ferrazzi asked to speak with McKenna, who, upon hearing the request, was so intrigued that he took the meeting. In it, he agreed to meet Pete’s son, Keith, but not to do anything more.

However, it turned out that McKenna liked the precocious adolescent — especially because of the way young Keith had come to his attention. McKenna was on the board of a local prep school where he sent his own children, by reputation one of the best schools in the country. Strings were indeed pulled, and Keith entered a new world, on scholarship, that set him on an entirely new course, just as his father had hoped. “I got one of the best educations America has to offer,” Ferrazzi says today. “Starting with elementary school, prep school, on to Yale and Harvard — it would never have happened if my father hadn’t believed that it never hurts to ask. The worst anyone can say is no. Not many people believe that. Embarrassment and fear are debilitating.”

Totally fearless is how Joshua Ramo, an editor at Time Inc., describes Ferrazzi. Ramo remembers a moment at the Davos economic forum, where the two first met, when Ferrazzi walked onto a hotel bus, saw Nike founder Phil Knight, and made a beeline for the seat next to his.

Boldness, and its particular genius, was the father’s gift to his son.

Landing a job

The following is from an article by Brad Karsh on how to land a job when you don’t have the requisite job experience:

Transferable skills are your secret weapon. They often get overlooked, but they can be your best ally.

When you are applying for a new job you must make yourself as “hirable” as possible to the recruiting director reviewing your resume. When you are listing your bullet points beneath each job title, really focus on what that recruiting director wants to see (without lying, of course).

Let’s say you worked in marketing, but you want to move into finance. When you craft your finance resume, move all of the bullet points to the top that have anything to do with finance.

Even though it may not have been your biggest accomplishment, your very first bullet point might say something like:

Managed $300,000 annual budget consistently exceeding company’s forecasting objectives.

Kendra Todd again

I just rewatched this scene on The Apprentice where Kendra Todd negotiated an exclusive cross-marketing agreement with other vendors on Chelsea Pier. This was done to promote their miniature golf course in one of the challenges.

That was a completely brilliant move. No wonder this woman won. And she deserved to do so.

It’s about the sizzle, not the steak

There’s a reason why you don’t normally have techies write ad campaigns for their own products

Techies tend to focus on the features of the products that they developed.  That’s a huge mistake.  One of the most fundamental tenets of sales and marketing is that you focus on the benefits, not the features.  Customers don’t care what the features are, except insofar as these can benefit the customer.  Or to put it another way, they care less about “What is it?” and more about “What can it do for me?”

Consider the iPhone.  Apple did the smart thing by developing an ad campaign that focused on how the iPhone can make life easier for Joe Schmoe on the street.  Had your typical engineer been in charge of that campaign, it would have focused on protocols and design features instead.  Not a smart idea.

As one writer said when reviewing an episode of The Apprentice,

As the old saying goes: people buy the sizzle, not the steak.  It’s the benefits of a product that people buy, not the features of the product.  When I teach sales seminars, I use a variety of workshop games and other techniques to help participants appreciate the difference between a feature of a product they’re selling, like an extra large screen on a TV, and the benefit that feature conveys, such as the enjoyment of watching a bigger picture. 

I’m so sick of not having decent manuals

I am so sick of buying all these products that don’t come with a manual or that come with lackluster ones.  Companies tend to treat them as annoyances.  I’m sure that some of them figure that they don’t make any money on selling manuals, and so they put minimal effort into this part of their work.

That’s both lazy and short-sighted. 

I think that these companies would benefit from the advice given in this article here.  If your company produces high-tech products, then you had BETTER understand the importance of coming up with decent manuals.  And not just some quickie “Meh. That’s good enough” writings either. The manuals had better be reasonably thorough and professional.

 

Recommending TARGET (TGT) stock pick again!

Okay, time to revisit my recommendation to purchase Target (TGT) stock. This company is positioned quite well.  I recommend it strongly, and I’m not alone.

Consider what Standard & Poor has to say, for example:

Target’s attention to a more affluent customer base and its differentiation through merchandising and store experience has allowed the company to buck some of the negative trends that have hurt other discounters (and discount department stores) over the past couple of years. While recent results have shown that the company is still subject to the forces that are hurting sales and profits across most of the retail industry, we think Target’s strong management and superior positioning will allow the company to outperform most of the competition over the long run.
 

We’re pleased that Target has remained true to its long-term strategy: differentiation through style and shopping experience. The stores are clean and spacious, with wide aisles and relatively little in the way of intrusive in-store advertising and endcaps. The company specializes in attractive yet inexpensive clothing and housewares (dubbed “cheap chic”) and sells many exclusive product lines developed by trendy designers. Target regularly brings in new lines of merchandise to keep the selection fresh, giving customers a reason to shop often.

 

 

 This is  a good pick, and the stock is selling for cheap.  Now is a great time to buy it!